Subject: Linux-Development Digest #411
From: Digestifier <Linux-Development-Request@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU>
To: Linux-Development@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: Linux-Development@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU
Date:     Wed, 26 Jan 94 18:51:30 EST

Linux-Development Digest #411, Volume #1         Wed, 26 Jan 94 18:51:30 EST

Contents:
  Re: Upper Memory Blocks ?? (Dale C Shuttleworth)
  Re: mktemp() broken? (Thomas G. McWilliams)
  UMSDOS Patch to Use \linux? (Steve McMahon)
  Re: Max virtual memory size? (Michael K. Johnson)
  Re: mktemp() broken? (Rene COUGNENC)
  Re: Is there an _official_ directory structure for linux? (Warner Losh)
  How do I read a HPFS filesystem? (Helge Hafting)
  ups "Dumps Core" (Karl Buck)
  Q: Sybase client library? (Scott Deerwester)
  Linux on a notebook (Scott Deerwester)
  Re: ups "Dumps Core" (Rainer Klute)
  Good info on device drivers. (Pablo Lopez Ramos)
  NCR53c400 support in pl14u (Kevin Lentin)
  Patrick Volkerdi ? lost your address (Alexa Wing)
  Re: Which is better? 680x0 or 80x86? (Hamish Macdonald)
  Re: How do I read a HPFS filesystem? (Alfred Longyear)
  Re: How to write a word to a port (inside a device driver). (Tony Denault)
  Re: NIS Server NEED (Peter Eriksson)
  Re: How do I read a HPFS filesystem? (H. Peter Anvin)
  Re: CD-rom's for Linux (hugo@artware.nl)
  starting messages correct or wrong? (falkenbe@up2u02.gwdg.de)
  Winders NT on MC68K?  (was Re: Which is better? 680x0 or 80x86?) (David C. Niemi)
  AIC-7770 Support (Matthew Fisher)
  Re: Which is better? 680x0 or 80x86? (Thomas G. McWilliams)
  Re: Which is better? 680x0 or 80x86? (Raymond L. Toy)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: ee90dcs@brunel.ac.uk (Dale C Shuttleworth)
Subject: Re: Upper Memory Blocks ??
Reply-To: ee90dcs@brunel.ac.uk
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 23:47:08 GMT

Hi,

        There seems to be some confusion about UMBs and how they
affect Linux and DOS users - I hope the following will help:

1.      BIOSes ROM shadowing and motherboard chipsets.

        Originally there was no memory at all available between
the 640k and 1024k marks on PCs.  Usually a PC had 640k of memory,
a gap and then any additional memory was located above the 1Mb mark
(if you were lucky and had a 286:-).  The first 640k was often not
made up of SIMMs but of DIPs (sometimes soldered to the
motherboard).  As SIMMs became more prevalent and started being
used for all the memory in a particular machine, 1Mb SIMMs were
(and still are) used to provide the first 640k of memory.  This
left 384k of the SIMM unused.  In a bare bones motherboard design
(there aren't many of these around) this 384k was wasted, it was
simply set up so that it could not be addressed (and possibly
interfere with any adapters, etc which inhabited this area).
Wasting this amount of memory seems rather pointless so various
options were built into motherboard chipsets and BIOSes.  The
most common options are ROM shadowing and 'RAM relocation'.
The second one is easiest to explain - 'RAM relocation' simply
involves taking the 384k of unused memory and making it appear
at the end of your installed memory.  Simple, you now have memory
appearing from 0 to 640k and 1024k to 4480k.  It is important to
note that this is done (I believe) by the motherboard chipset,
NOT the [34]86 memory management unit.  BIOS shadowing simply
involves copying the BIOS contents into RAM and them (again, using
the motherboard chipset not the MMU) mapping this into the area
the ROM occupies.  It is quite possible to have a combination of
the two, using 128k to shadow BIOS and having 256k tacked onto the
end of the extended memory.

2.      UMBs.

        Well these are a Microsoft invention and don't have any
direct relevence to Linux so I'll keep it brief.  The big problem
with DOS (sorry, ONE of the big problems :-) is that you cannot
access more than 640k without tying yourself in knots.  In fact this
is not actually true, you cannot access more than 1M of memory
without tying yourself in knots.  UMBs work because it they are a
way of making more memory APPEAR to be below the 1M boundary.  In
order to achieve this EMM386 simply takes memory from above 1M and
uses the [34]86 MMU to map it into free spaces between 640k and  1M.
EMM386 does NOT make use of any unused PHYSICAL memory between 640k
and 1M, it can't because the motherboard chipset prevents the processor
from actually seeing any memory there.

        Right, that describes what happens, what does it mean for
Linux (and DOS).  Firstly, it is important to note that neither Linux
nor DOS ever attempt to use any physical memory between 640k and 1M.
There shouldn't be any here anyway.  Linux tells you this when it
prints up 384k 'reserved' at boot up.  Under Linux you want as much
free memory as possible, ie, if you can you want to relocate that 384k
onto the end of the extended memory - this will obviously involve
disabling BIOS shadowing.  Under DOS, you also want as much free
memory as possible but you also want to have BIOS shadowing.  There
are two ways to do this, use the BIOS setup to shadow the appropriate
areas (and relocate any free if you can) or relocate all the memory
as for Linux and then use software under DOS (which uses the [34]86
MMU) to shadow the BIOS.

        It might be nice to incorporate some form of control of the
motherbaord chipset into Linux to ensure that the maximum amount of
memory is made available.  I suspect however that all chipsets
require different programming and this would be a nightmare to do.
The ultimate answer is of course to buy sufficient memory to make
384k seem a ridiculously small amount to worry about:-)

                        Dale.
-- 
******************************************************************************
*  Dale Shuttleworth                                                         *
*  Dept of Elec Eng,  Brunel University, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, UK               *
*  ee90dcs@brunel.ac.uk                                                      *
******************************************************************************

------------------------------

From: tgm@netcom.com (Thomas G. McWilliams)
Subject: Re: mktemp() broken?
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 00:21:17 GMT

Savio Lam (lam836@cs.cuhk.hk) wrote:
: Hello all,

:       I am trying to compile cshar (the shell archive generator)
: version 2.0 (patchlevel 3) under Linux. Both findsrc and makekit triggers
: a segmentation fault. I've found out that the problem occurs when mktemp()
: is called. Does anyone have any idea?

The template string which you pass to mktemp() must not be a
string constant because mktemp() will try to write to it.
This is normal behavior for mktemp() and not a bug. Passing
a pointer to a char variable array is ok.

Thomas

------------------------------

From: steve.mcmahon@lambada.oit.unc.edu (Steve McMahon)
Subject: UMSDOS Patch to Use \linux?
Date: 25 Jan 94 20:38:50 GMT

Is there a patch that would make the umsdos fs use \linux instead of
the DOS root directory as its mount point for the linux root
directory? I thin I read about that somewhere, is it availale or just
a rumor?

Later.

-Steve


------------------------------

From: johnsonm@calypso.oit.unc.edu (Michael K. Johnson)
Subject: Re: Max virtual memory size?
Date: 26 Jan 1994 00:42:50 GMT


In article <2i0ud7$as7@universe.digex.net> philp@universe.digex.net (Phil Perucci) writes:

   Other than disk-space, does Linux have a limit to the virtual
   memory size?  I seem to remember this being an issue at one
   point, but have not seen much on virtual memory for a while.

Well, I'm not reading the source right now, but I think you can still
have 16 swap files/partitions at once, and since a swap file/partition
can now be 128MB, that comes out to 2GB of virtual memory.  That's a
limit, but not a serious constraint for most of us...

   I don't think it should matter, but my PC is a 486 w/8M.

   Is 100Mb of virtual memory resonable?  I want to play with C++,
   but don't like the limitations of typical RDBMS packages.

100MB is now possible in a single swap file/partition.

michaelkjohnson

------------------------------

From: rene@renux.frmug.fr.net (Rene COUGNENC)
Subject: Re: mktemp() broken?
Date: 25 Jan 1994 17:26:24 GMT
Reply-To: cougnenc@itesec.ensta.fr (Rene COUGNENC)

Ce brave Savio Lam ecrit:

> Hello all,

>       I am trying to compile cshar (the shell archive generator)
> version 2.0 (patchlevel 3) under Linux. Both findsrc and makekit triggers
> a segmentation fault. I've found out that the problem occurs when mktemp()
> is called. Does anyone have any idea?


How is the code calling mktemp() written ?

Try to add "-fwriteable-strings" in the CFLAGS; I'm pretty sure it will
work :-)

Look at the description to this option in the GCC manual to understand
the ( common ) bug of the code you are compiling.

(BTW, this is a standard C programming question, it is not related to the
 kernel development, so it should not be in this group... )

--
 linux linux linux linux -[ cougnenc@renux.frmug.fr.net ]- linux linux linux 

------------------------------

From: imp@boulder.parcplace.com (Warner Losh)
Subject: Re: Is there an _official_ directory structure for linux?
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 21:01:12 GMT

In article <2i1j8g$5f5@smurf.noris.de> urlichs@smurf.noris.de
(Matthias Urlichs) writes: 
>It was _not_ written to exclude everything that isn't touched when you
>build your kernel. If that were the case, this newsgroup would indeed be
>named c.o.l.kernel.

Which is why interesting shared library topics come up from time to
time and aren't out of place.  (other than how to recover from rm
libc.so.x.x.x :-).

Although this thread is drifting toward a colm thread...  Followups
redirected.

Warner
-- 
Warner Losh             imp@boulder.parcplace.COM       ParcPlace Boulder
I've almost finished my brute force solution to subtlety.

------------------------------

From: hafting@Lise.Unit.NO (Helge Hafting)
Subject: How do I read a HPFS filesystem?
Date: 25 Jan 1994 16:18:03 GMT

The faq mentioned read-only support for the os/2 hpfs filesystem.
How do I use it?  Do I have to ftp some utility, or is there a command?

------------------------------

From: kxb@cbs.ksu.ksu.edu (Karl Buck)
Subject: ups "Dumps Core"
Date: 25 Jan 1994 22:19:07 -0600

I click on a variable to view its value and ups dumps core. I'm using
the patches for ups-2.45.2 obtained from
sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/devel. 

I'm also using the pl14u kernel and gcc 2.5.7, libc 4.5.8.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.
-- 
Karl Buck         
USGMRL                 
913.537.3666 (H)
913.776.2745 (W)       PGP public key available via finger.

------------------------------

From: scott@cs.ust.hk (Scott Deerwester)
Subject: Q: Sybase client library?
Date: 25 Jan 94 01:01:12 GMT

Does there exist a version of the Sybase client library compiled
for Linux?  The thought of connecting to your favorite Sybase
database from a machine that fits in a backpack, running X11,
is just too good to pass up.
_________________________________________________________________
 Scott Deerwester            |   The Hong Kong University of
 Internet: scott@cs.ust.hk   |     Science and Technology
 Phone:    (852) 358-6985    |  Department of Computer Science
=================================================================
_________________
 Scott Deerwester            |   The Hong Kong 

------------------------------

From: scott@cs.ust.hk (Scott Deerwester)
Subject: Linux on a notebook
Date: 25 Jan 94 01:05:41 GMT

I've been very happily running Linux for over a month now on an
IBM Thinkpad 350C... well, almost very happily.  The problem is
that Linux doesn't know diddly about power management.  It merrily
sync's the disk every 90 seconds like a good UNIX, and burns
through what ought to have been a 3-8 hour battery charge in
under an hour.

Has anybody taken any steps toward a battery-aware Linux?  You'd
need, basically:

- Hooks to be gentle to the battery when the AC adaptor is not
  plugged in.

- A device driver (probably not unlike the CMOS clock driver in
  /etc/clock) that can tell you how much power you have left.

and, of course, a 10 line TK app that displays the power level
graphically on the screen. :-)

I *like* sitting out in the woods, thinking through a design
problem with a UNIX box in my lap.  I want to sit out there
*longer*!
_________________________________________________________________
 Scott Deerwester            |   The Hong Kong University of
 Internet: scott@cs.ust.hk   |     Science and Technology
 Phone:    (852) 358-6985    |  Department of Computer Science
=================================================================

------------------------------

From: klute@tommy.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Rainer Klute)
Subject: Re: ups "Dumps Core"
Date: 26 Jan 1994 08:04:17 GMT

In article <2i4qvrINNn3k@cbs.ksu.ksu.edu>, kxb@cbs.ksu.ksu.edu (Karl Buck) writes:
|> I click on a variable to view its value and ups dumps core. I'm using
|> the patches for ups-2.45.2 obtained from
|> sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/devel. 
|> 
|> I'm also using the pl14u kernel and gcc 2.5.7, libc 4.5.8.

I think libc 4.5.8 is the problem. I encountered the same problem when I
installed libc 4.5.8 and I shall switch back to libc 4.4.4 soon.

Well, ok, actually ups causes the fault, but there's not much of a difference for
me as a user. And I'd also like Mosaic 2.1 access local files... :-( 

-- 
  Dipl.-Inform.                     IRB  - immer richtig beraten
  Rainer Klute                      EXUG - European X User Group
  Universitdt Dortmund, IRB
D-44221 Dortmund

    <http://www.informatik.uni-dortmund.de/IRB/Klute.html>

------------------------------

From: plr@ll.iac.es (Pablo Lopez Ramos)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Good info on device drivers.
Date: 25 Jan 1994 15:43:27 GMT
Reply-To: plr@ll.iac.es

        I need to develop device drivers for a PCL-720 card. Where can I find good
info on how to write device drivers under Linux ? Has anybody develop a driver for a 
similar card (is a 32 chanel DI/o and counter card) ?   

Thank you
---
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pablo Lopez Ramos                                                                                             Pho#: 34 22 605283 |
| UNIX Manager, Computer Center                                                                      Fax#: 34 22 605210 |
| Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias                                                                                                    |
| 38200 La Laguna, Tenerife                                                                       Internet: plopez@iac.es     |
| Canary Islands                                                                                        SPAN: EAST::"plopez@iac.es" |
| SPAIN                                                                                                                                                        |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+


------------------------------

From: kevinl@bruce.cs.monash.edu.au (Kevin Lentin)
Subject: NCR53c400 support in pl14u
Date: 25 Jan 1994 23:45:58 GMT

In the new pl14u kernel, Drew has done some major updating to the NCR5380
generic drivers.

He includes the following comment (from the patch file)

+ * Note that these routines also work with NR53c400 family chips.
+ *

He doesn't point out that in order to work with the NCR53c400, you have to
add 8 to the base port number that the card (eg a T130B) is jumpered for.
The NCR53c400 has an extra 5 or so addresses that it uses and reserves
another 3. It maps the 5380 registers into the port addresses 8 after the
base port for the card.

Also, unless Drew is being very sneaky, I don't think the interupt problem
with the 53c400 has been solved. There is some extra logic between the
outside world of the 53c400 and the internal 5380 logic when it comes to
interupts. I am expecting the info I need to solve this any minute now and
then we can see what happens.

On the other hand, Drew might have fixed it, in which case I'm eternally
grateful, but he didn't say he did.

-- 
[==================================================================]
[ Kevin Lentin                   |___/~\__/~\___/~~~~\__/~\__/~\_| ]
[ kevinl@bruce.cs.monash.edu.au  |___/~\/~\_____/~\______/~\/~\__| ]
[ Macintrash: 'Just say NO!'     |___/~\__/~\___/~~~~\____/~~\___| ]
[==================================================================]

------------------------------

From: wing@epas.utoronto.ca (Alexa Wing)
Subject: Patrick Volkerdi ? lost your address
Date: 25 Jan 1994 23:33:05 -0500

yeah hi,

anyone know Patrick Volkerdi (darkstar) address

would appreciate it if you mail it to me at

alfie@io.org
wing@epas,utoronto.ca

thanx



------------------------------

From: Hamish.Macdonald@bnr.ca (Hamish Macdonald)
Subject: Re: Which is better? 680x0 or 80x86?
Date: 26 Jan 1994 01:27:50 GMT

>>>>> On 25 Jan 1994 19:53:10 EST,
>>>>> In message <2i4etm$e2o@brachio.zrz.TU-Berlin.DE>,
>>>>> wpp@marie (Kai Petzke) wrote:

Kai> And more important: upon system calls, you have to save the
Kai> registers, too, because the system call could force a task switch
Kai> (example: call to read(), with no data available).  Typically,
Kai> system calls occur much more often than task switchs.

Don't be silly.  If you're saving the registers on the task switch,
you obviously don't have to save them earlier on a system call entry
to avoid register trashing.

The only good reason I can see for saving all the registers on a
system call is that it makes "ptrace" (and strace) feasible.

Kai> For function calls, you have to save registers, too.

You're being silly again.  If you're using a called-saves mechanism,
the called procedure/function only saves the registers it changes.

I hope that you're not calling having less registers an advantage in
this case.

------------------------------

From: longyear@netcom.com (Alfred Longyear)
Subject: Re: How do I read a HPFS filesystem?
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 01:11:36 GMT

hafting@Lise.Unit.NO (Helge Hafting) writes:

>The faq mentioned read-only support for the os/2 hpfs filesystem.
>How do I use it?  Do I have to ftp some utility, or is there a command?

No. There is no need to ftp some utility or use some command.
However you must do something which is more dreaded than that by some
people.<G> You must make your own version of the Linux kernel.

Instructions on how to make a new kernel are included in /linux directory's
README file. Basically, you must issue three commands in that directory.

make config
make dep
make

The last one may be either "make zdisk" or "make zlilo" depending upon
whether you wish to use a boot disk or lilo. If you just leave it as "make"
then it will simply build the kernel but not put it anywhere to be loaded.

During the configuration processing, you are asked what file systems that
you wish to support. HPFS is one of them. Simply answer "y".

Once you have built the new kernel and booted it, use a normal "mount"
command to mount the file system. Remember to specify the type
as hpfs; as in "mount -t hpfs /dev/hda2 /mountpoint". If you wish to
always mount the partition then edit the /etc/fstab file.

------------------------------

From: Tony Denault <denault@ifa.hawaii.edu>
Subject: Re: How to write a word to a port (inside a device driver).
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 23:13:18 GMT

I am also writing a device driver which I would like to talk to
the I/O ports in byte, word, or long increments. Here are some
macro I hacked together. They seem too work ( or my drivers is
working). I just include these in my driver source.

Tony,

/*---------------------------------------------------------------
**  Macro for talking to io ports. This driver defines its own
**  macros because it needs 8, 16, and 32 bits ins and outs.
**---------------------------------------------------------------
*/
extern inline void M96out8(unsigned short port, unsigned char value)
{
__asm__ __volatile__ ("outb %b0,%w1" : :"a" (value),"d" (port));
}
 
extern inline void M96out16(unsigned short port, unsigned short value)
{
__asm__ __volatile__ ("outw %w0,%w1" : :"a" (value),"d" (port));
}
 
extern inline void M96out32(unsigned short port, unsigned long value)
{
__asm__ __volatile__ ("outl %0,%w1" : :"a" (value),"d" (port));
}
 
extern inline unsigned int M96in8(unsigned short port)
{
        unsigned int _v;
__asm__ __volatile__ ("inb %w1,%b0" :"=a" (_v):"d" (port),"0" (0));
        return _v;
}
 
extern inline unsigned int M96in16(unsigned short port)
{
        unsigned int _v;
__asm__ __volatile__ ("inw %w1,%w0" :"=a" (_v):"d" (port),"0" (0));
        return _v;
}
 
extern inline unsigned long M96in32(unsigned short port)
{
        unsigned long _v;
__asm__ __volatile__ ("inl %w1,%0" :"=a" (_v):"d" (port),"0" (0));
        return _v;
}



======================================================================
Tony Denault                         Internet: denault@ifa.hawaii.edu
Institute of Astronomy                  Phone: (808) 956-8101
University of Hawaii                      Fax: (808) 988-3893
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822
======================================================================

------------------------------

From: peter@ifm.liu.se (Peter Eriksson)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Re: NIS Server NEED
Date: 25 Jan 94 22:56:21 GMT

mangon@gla.ecoledoc.ibp.fr (Olivier MANGON) writes:

>I need to find a NIS server for linux (yp*), so if anyone can tell me
>where i can get one Please Email Directly...

Why not write one yourself? An YP server is a really really easy piece
of program. Sigh. Ah well. I just wrote a first stub at one. You can
FTP it from "ftp.lysator.liu.se" in "pub/NYS" as "ypserv-0.1.tar.gz".
I wrote it in 2 hours so don't expect too much documentation and frills.

It's not a complete fully featured server but it can atleast to the
basic stuff and with it as a basis it shouldn't be difficult to write
a fully functional one.

/Peter <pen@lysator.liu.se>

------------------------------

From: hpa@hook.eecs.nwu.edu (H. Peter Anvin)
Subject: Re: How do I read a HPFS filesystem?
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 01:15:17 GMT

In article <2i3gnr$rgn@ugle.unit.no>,
Helge Hafting <hafting@Lise.Unit.NO> wrote:
>The faq mentioned read-only support for the os/2 hpfs filesystem.
>How do I use it?  Do I have to ftp some utility, or is there a command?

As root:

mount -t hpfs -r /dev/XXXX /YYYY

... where /dev/XXXX is the device name of your HPFS partition (use
fdisk to find), and /YYYY is the directory you want to use as mount
point. -r means readonly.  You can also stick the following line in
/etc/fstab:

/dev/XXXX       hpfs            /YYYY           defaults

(With "defaults", it will be r/w when that support has been finished.
If you want ro still, change it to "ro".)

        /hpa
-- 
This message was sent from a system running Linux, the freeware UNIX
clone.  Get yours from tsx-11.mit.edu or sunsite.unc.edu.

------------------------------

From: hugo@artware.nl
Subject: Re: CD-rom's for Linux
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 10:37:59 GMT

In article <2i1n8u$pn9@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> bf11620@ehsn3.cen.uiuc.edu (Byron Thomas Faber) writes:
>I'm thinking of buying a CD-rom for linux.
>
>I know some installation packages are on CD-rom, but I can't find any
>information.  Can somebody tell me what's available?
>
>Thanks,
>Byron
>
>P.S.  I've heard varying opinions on which CD-rom is the best.  I really
>      can't efford fancy stuff, so I was looking into a cheap'o Mitsumi.
>
>      Should I looking into any other cheap 'standard'?  or what?
>
>      Basically all I'm looking for is something that will read CD-Roms
>      and will be reasonably supported.  Speed is NOT anything to worry 
>      about.  $$$$ is.    (I'm a student)  :)
>-- 
>PGP 2.3 key available (in plan file) at:       Support public code:
>btf57346@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu &                     Use GNU software
>btf57346@sumter.cso.uiuc.edu                   and others.
Hi Byron,
i am using the cheap mitsumi for some time with no problems at all.
If prices in the US. are comparable to ours, you should be able
to pick it up for about US$150. BTW i have to fill in the actual io-address
(in my case 0x320) of the interface in mcd.h, otherwise linux confuses it 
with my (also cheap) ne2000.
Success,
hugo


-- 
Disclaimer: My boss agrees with this,        [T>
not sure about my wife though.               /|
                                            / |
Hope not too many people                   /  |
object to my long signature,              /   |\
i cannot possibly sail in                /    | \ 
four lines.                             /     |  \
I would have to "strijk                /      |   \
mijn mast en vaar op de               /       |    \
motor". :-(                          /        |     \
                                    /         |      \
                                   / hugo@artware.nl  \
                                  /___________|        \
                                    |o    /---|---------\
                              __/~~\|O|_/~~~~~~~\________\
                              |                          /
                             |\ "WOOD_B" muiderzand     /
                      ~~~~~~~~~~8~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

------------------------------

From: falkenbe@up2u02.gwdg.de
Subject: starting messages correct or wrong?
Date: 25 Jan 94 20:32:13

I'm a new LINUX (SLAcK 1.1.1) user and did not know if my installation is
correct. Before I get the login prompt by starting LINUX there are a lot
of message lines which seems to me not correct, because they do not
start at the beginning of the lines and furthermore  I have to stroke the 
return key before the login prompt is visible. The lines 
contains allocations for example like this:

        Microsoft = `ms! 

Is there someone who can tell mit something about this messages and if they
correct or wrong? Is ist correct to press the return key to get
the login prompt after starting the system? How can I avoid this
messages?

Thank you in advance

Please mail me to :
falkenbe@up2u02.gwdg.de


------------------------------

From: niemidc@YP.lab (David C. Niemi)
Subject: Winders NT on MC68K?  (was Re: Which is better? 680x0 or 80x86?)
Date: 26 Jan 1994 14:38:10 GMT
Reply-To: niemidc@oasis.gtegsc.com

In article 94Jan25111756@hamsta.setanta.demon.co.uk, armb@setanta.demon.co.uk (Alan Braggins) writes:
[...]
>Windows NT (which is multi-tasking, though not that Unix-like) is
>designed to be portable, unlike earlier 80x86 only MS systems. A 680x0
>port is possible (or so someone at Microsoft talking about the
>technical feasibility of an Amiga port) (though not necessarily
>likely).

While it is true that Windows NoT is not very UN*X-like, it is not
as portable as most flavors of UN*X, or even as somewhat hardware-
specific flavors of UN*X like Linux.  NT's downfall is that it is
hard-coded to little-endian processors.  Endianness (aka byte sex
or the "NUXI" issue) is a problem that UN*X solved 15 years ago,
when IBM mainframes where big endian and PDPs were little-endian,
who knows what Cybers and Honeywells were...

Microsoft indicated no willingness to fix their code to run on
big-endian processors, so a 68k port is RIGHT OUT.  All the talk
about running on RISC chips is on either bi-endian RISC, or on
special little-endian versions of the mainstream big-endian RISC
chips.

I don't know if the endianness issue is Windows NT's only major
portability problem, or if it is indicative of a major Intel
chauvinism on Microsoft's part.  But either way, that alone makes
Linux far more portable than Windows NT (not to mention that for
each hacker with the source for Windows NT, there are dozens with
the source to Linux, so I'd bank on Linux for 68K support first).
---
David C. Niemi  David.Niemi@oasis.gtegsc.com
======================================================
Now I must sit here and ponder the yonder
Herbivores ate well 'cause their food didn't never run



------------------------------

From: mfisher@ringer.cs.utsa.edu (Matthew Fisher)
Subject: AIC-7770 Support
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 14:16:51 GMT


Is there a projected date as to when the Adaptec 7770 SCSI chipset will be 
supported?  I need to be able to run Linux for some of my CS classes.

Thanks,
Matthew

--
=============================================================================
/ |\  /|   |~~~    |     Matthew Fisher    |  mfisher@runner.jpl.utsa.edu   \
/ | \/ |   |---    |  University of Texas  |  mfisher@lonestar.utsa.edu     \
/ |    |o  |   o   |     at San Antonio    |  mfisher@ringer.cs.utsa.edu    \
=============================================================================

------------------------------

From: tgm@netcom.com (Thomas G. McWilliams)
Subject: Re: Which is better? 680x0 or 80x86?
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 12:11:48 GMT

Alan Braggins (armb@setanta.demon.co.uk) wrote:
: Windows NT (which is multi-tasking, though not that Unix-like) is
: designed to be portable, unlike earlier 80x86 only MS systems. A 680x0
: port is possible (or so someone at Microsoft talking about the
: technical feasibility of an Amiga port) (though not necessarily
: likely).

Actually this is wrong. NT can not run on big-endian designs
such as the 680x0 and Sparc. NT is *very* flawed, and the endian
problem is the most curious. The only reason NT is being ported
to MIPS and Alpha is because they have little-endian
capability. Big-endian is off limits, thus the claim that NT is
"portable" should be taken with a large dose salt. Even Linux,
which never claimed portability as a design goal, runs on a
big-endian architecture--the 680x0, something which the
so-called "portable" but flawed NT is incapable of.

Thomas
tgm@netcom.com

------------------------------

From: toy@soho.crd.ge.com (Raymond L. Toy)
Subject: Re: Which is better? 680x0 or 80x86?
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 15:02:55 GMT

In article <1994Jan26.001803.6651@amscons.amscons.com> bob@amscons.amscons.com (Bob Amstadt) writes:

   Multi-user and multi-tasking systems have been implemented on the 286
   even though it has no MMU.  Although the 64k limit on segment size

The 286 DOES have a mmu.  It is similar to the one on the 386 except
that there is no support for paging.  

   makes it difficult to port programs that were written to operate in
   large (> 64k) non-segmented memory systems.

Ray
-- 
Ray -----> toy@soho.crd.ge.com
Toy -----> GE CR&D, KW-C407, 0x6270

------------------------------


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